“That’s not a small anniversary for this community,” said Kevin Rose, executive director of the Hartman Rock Garden. “... It’s interesting how our anniversaries line up and how we can look across into our future but also into the past and in these 25-year segments.”
All of Ohio’s 88 counties are encouraged to create local plans for commemorating the country’s semiquincentennial anniversary, and community leaders in Clark County are looking for ways to tell both the nation’s story and the local region’s history.
“Here in Clark County, we have a unique opportunity to tell our community’s stories, celebrate our shared heritage and connect with both the statewide and nationwide commemorations,” according to the Clark County America 250 Planning Committee, which first met in April and then again at the end of August.
During the ongoing planning process, Clark County America 250 Planning Committee members have pitched their ideas of what their organizations could do to bring awareness to and celebrate this important anniversary, including hosting special events, making annual events bigger, holding an open house day for organizations and more. Having items for people to buy, such as flags, stickers and pins, was another idea the committee recently suggested.
“I’m really hopeful we can almost even develop a community brand, a nice little sticker that says America 250 (and) that says Springfield 225 on it because it’s nice that they coincide,” Rose said.
From time capsules to planting commemorative trees, the committee is looking at ways to get the local community engaged in these celebrations, such as building online engagement through platforms such as Facebook and/or creating an online calendar to show different events.
“It’s more (about) celebrating our community’s history for the past 250 years, so we can look at different options ... (and) specific ideas,” said Natalie Fritz, archivist and outreach director at the Clark County Historical Society at the Heritage Center. “There’s lots of opportunities. There’s a lot of community organizations and other parts of the county that can be involved in just celebrating and commemorating next year.”
When talking about trees and where to plant them, Rose said he thinks it would be a cool thing for the future community to have.
“In 50 years or 100 years, how are (we) going to look back on this celebration? I think knowing that those trees are out there and you’re kind of almost signifying what’s important to the community by doing an America 250 tree, I think it could be really cool,” he said.
Some other ideas that were discussed are sharing “under told” stories in the community, creating a community timeline of what’s happened in the area and region, hanging banners around the city, creating murals and holding history crawls.
A recent committee meeting ended with discussion about the help needed on planning. More people are needed to lead efforts, to sign on to particular projects and, potentially, to create subcommittees to work on different projects.
To get involved, contact Fritz at nfritz@heritagecenter.us. For more information about Ohio’s America 250 plans, visit https://america250-ohio.org/.
America 250’s themes for each month in 2026 are:
- January – Ohio firsts and originals
- February – Inventions, innovations, business and work
- March – Music, entertainment and movies
- April – Transportation
- May – Art, culture and literature
- June – Natural resources
- July – Ohio statewide picnic and homecoming
- August – State and county fairs
- September – Sports and recreation
- October – Agriculture and food
- November – Veterans and first responders
- December – Future Ohio
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